First liveaboard - where to go?

[jeremyl]

Thanks Damselfish... I hadnt seen one of those threads and that kinda makes me lean towards doing Roatan/Utila as a land based. The small issue there is land based usually means including the wife who doesnt dive. But maybe I will fix that before I go there (came close in Bonaire, so maybe I will try it again). Turks would be my top probably except she really wants to go there as well, so that might be hard to get approved. An ex-coworker did Turks Aggressor and loved it. Is Turks much better by liveaboard? If so maybe I can work it out.

Otherwise sounds like Belize. When is the best time for Belize? We went Nov. 04 and had pretty good weather. One day of rough seas, and I think rain one or two days but not bad.

Caymen may be cool too. We went there for a day as a pod person (big cruises are not my thing. Been there done that). Again, is there much to be gained from LA, or is shore based just as good?

Obviously LA's have their advantage in some destinations. Sounds like Belize is def. one of them. Just dont know about the rest of the Carib. Oh yeay... Saba sounds spectacular... I read a little last year on it. Hmmm.

 

[robint]

the big differences with doing liveaboard vs. land-based:
Liveaboard you will do 4-5 dives per day for 5 or 6 days
Land-based you might be able to do 3-4 dives a day for a few days but you have alot of time wasted on boat going back and forth where liveaboard you are on the dive platform

Liveaboard all meals are prepared for you and waiting when you get back from diving
Land-based you need to find restaurant, order and wait for food - more time wasted

Liveaboard you don't ever carry any gear
Land-based you have to haul gear back and forth to boat (some places do it for you but most don't and it gets old after a few days)

Liveaboards take you to the dive site and say "pool's open, have a nice dive", you get in water when you want and do your own profile, diving with guide is purely optional (this isn't true at some places in Pacific)
Land-based you are usually diving with a group led by a DM, you all get in water at same time and out at same time

Liveaboard surface intervals are spent sitting on deck of boat eating meals or snacks prepared and served to you, relaxing
Land-based surface intervals are spent lugging gear, hunting for restaurants, resting from all the above


Does this help?

 

[ronscuba]

I think Turks & Caicos is best done via liveaboard.

The only landbased places in the Caribbean that I think of where you can easily do 4-5 dives a day are places that have access to good shore dives like Bonaire, Curacao or house reefs like Cocoview Roatan.

 

[jeremyl]

Robint - just a guess here, but seems like you are a fan of Liveaboards.

I agree with most of what you say. Although most places I go I dive with one OP every day and they take care of gear. Food is not a big deal to me. I dont each much and there is a tradeoff between choices on land v.s convenience on a boat. Also there is AI, which takes care of food for you (and often provides more choice than a boat).

Also, I usually dive with ops that only take out ~6 per boat (or at least per DM) and the DM knows the site so they show me cool stuff I might not find. I dont have much against diving with small groups. And I know several LAs do tend to go out as groups, or at least it works out that way.

Not knocking your view - I agree quite a bit. But take Belize for example. I went and dove 5 days, including the big trip to Blue Hole. Had a great time, but yes I would much rather have dove 4-5 times a day instead of 2-3. And I LOVE night diving, so daily night dives is a big plus! And my best dive was out on the outer reefs. So in Belize, where the liveaboards can move house from reef to reef makes a lot of sense.

Sounds like in Bay Islands the reefs are so close to shore that there is no need for off-shore bed. Also Bonaire. No reason to do a liveaboard there.

So Belize = Liveaboard. Caymen, Saba, Turks? I dont know. I know you can dive a lot from land based ops. But will I get to see a lot more from a Liveaboard (asside from the more dives per day aspect).. cause really for the cost you could presumably stay longer on shore. For me thats not really the case cause vacation time is expensive.

 

[nereas]

I have been a few places (Maui, Belize, Bonaire, Curacao) for shore-based diving and feel I want my next dive trip to be a dive-dive-dive liveaboard. Usually my trips are in winter (gotta get away from that Oregon rain) but I have no planned timeframe right now. No real geographic preference although Carib is cheapest to get to. Thinking maybe Turks.

I am most interested in cool new critters. I am not really into wrecks and such... and am not really after seeing all the big stuff even (although that is cool)... mostly I want to go see the colorful stuff and crazy rare stuff. Thinking of getting a housing and strobe for my D70 and racking up some cool pix.

Thanks!
Jeremy

The rainy season is just now beginning in Cairns, Australia. But even so, the diving is still pretty good. I would suggest a live-aboard to the Coral Sea.

 

[nereas]

the big differences with doing liveaboard vs. land-based:
Liveaboard you will do 4-5 dives per day for 5 or 6 days
Land-based you might be able to do 3-4 dives a day for a few days but you have alot of time wasted on boat going back and forth where liveaboard you are on the dive platform

Liveaboard all meals are prepared for you and waiting when you get back from diving
Land-based you need to find restaurant, order and wait for food - more time wasted

Liveaboard you don't ever carry any gear
Land-based you have to haul gear back and forth to boat (some places do it for you but most don't and it gets old after a few days)

Liveaboards take you to the dive site and say "pool's open, have a nice dive", you get in water when you want and do your own profile, diving with guide is purely optional (this isn't true at some places in Pacific)
Land-based you are usually diving with a group led by a DM, you all get in water at same time and out at same time

Liveaboard surface intervals are spent sitting on deck of boat eating meals or snacks prepared and served to you, relaxing
Land-based surface intervals are spent lugging gear, hunting for restaurants, resting from all the above


Does this help?

AND THE MAJOR DRAWBACKS of a live-aboard is that if you end up by the un-luck of the draw with a boat-load of azz-holes, you are then stuck with them all week long. I have been very lucky, so far, however.

 

[Damselfish]

I like to do land sometimes and liveaboard sometimes. So I lean towards liveaboards where there is a clear advantage to the boat and I'm not as interested in the land side. On land, I can avoid ops that insist I follow the herd so I simply don't see that as a factor.

Cayman, I can get to the good diving from shore, any of the same sites as a liveaboard, though I can't conveniently do 4-5 dives every day. But once in awhile I like to do only 2-3 a day and spend a little more time relaxing at a nice resort. I enjoy topside Grand Cayman. Once in awhile it's nice to dive in a very 1st world tropical place for a change, I like the restaurants, the prices don't bother me, and I mostly stay away from SMB & Georgetown unless I want to eat or shop someplace there. I also like staying on Little Cayman. And I've heard enough mixed reports on the various Cayman liveaboards over the years that it's never seemed a good bet I'd be enjoying the liveaboard more. Maybe I should try it one of these days.

Only time in Turks and Caicos we did a liveaboard from Grand Turk, and land based from Provo (diving mostly West Caicos.) It was a good trip; if I went there again I'd do a liveaboard out of Provo since the dive sites are a distance and land side isn't all that interesting. But for some reason the diving there just didn't excite us that much (and we did have perfect weather), so I don't know if or when we will get around to returning there. Everytime we consider it, we say "meh" and go someplace else instead. South Caicos had some cool stuff, but no liveaboard out there anymore.

I want to do Saba and would probably do a liveaboard. Which means the CE2 or the rare trips the Cuan Law goes there. I wish the Cuan Law did that route more often, never seems to work out with our schedule.

 

[TravisD]

We just got back from our first liveaboard -- in fact, our first ocean diving -- a week on the Aquacat out of Nassau. Absolutely wonderful time - we didn't find a single thing wrong with the trip - the whole experience was absolutely fabulous.

 

[robint]

We just got back from our first liveaboard -- in fact, our first ocean diving -- a week on the Aquacat out of Nassau. Absolutely wonderful time - we didn't find a single thing wrong with the trip - the whole experience was absolutely fabulous.

TravisD,
Can you do a trip report? I don't think I have ever seen a full report on the Aquacat. Plus there is someone who has posted here just this week asking for information about the boat. I am sure he would appreciate it, too.

 

[robint]

AND THE MAJOR DRAWBACKS of a live-aboard is that if you end up by the un-luck of the draw with a boat-load of azz-holes, you are then stuck with them all week long. I have been very lucky, so far, however.

that's true, but we have been very lucky on liveaboards. We have been on boats with completely jerks on day-boats though that made us want to scream. It seems to me, just my 2 cents, but the people who do liveaboards tend to be much more serious divers and more outgoing/friendly.